Livia regained consciousness feeling a heavy pressure crushing her lungs.

‘It’s hard to breathe….’

Opening her hazy eyes to look up at the void, she saw only dim darkness. Livia tried to move her body, but the massive pressure continued to weigh her down.

‘It’s suffocating…. Where am I?’

Could she be trapped in Triton’s trial again? But there was no reason for that….

While she frowned, struggling to hold onto her fading consciousness, someone tried to forcibly lift her body. She struggled to break free, but the force overwhelmed her.

“Huk…!”

Livia’s deeply submerged body was pulled out.

Strangely, although she had clearly emerged from the water, she remained in water. However, the crushing pressure that threatened to burst her body persisted. The only fortunate aspect was that breathing had become much easier than before.

As breath rushed into her lungs like a strike, Livia pressed her chest, trying to regulate her breathing.

At that moment, she felt a k*lling intent cold as frost on her nape. Her whole body instantly broke out in goosebumps, warning of danger.

This was no mere trial of Triton’s.

No matter how harsh and difficult Triton’s trials had been, Livia had never felt such intense k*lling intent before.

Livia strained her eyes, trying to sharpen her vision while heightening her tension.

At that moment, lights gathered in that dark place.

‘…What is that?’

The lights spun round and round with her in the center. At first glance, they resembled ordinary jellyfish lights, but looking closely, their shapes appeared bizarre.

Some had sharp teeth and bumpy gray skin, while others moved around with their flesh stripped away, their internal bones fully visible.

Their appearances seemed so hideous that she thought they were monsters, but upon closer inspection, they were fish or squid-like creatures emitting light from their bodies.

‘Deep-sea fish…?’

When the golden castle had gone deep into the sea before, one fish that had accidentally entered the castle resembled these. Triton had called them deep-sea fish.

He had said they were fish that usually didn’t rise to this height, but sometimes they would ride the hot currents bursting up from the bottom to reach here.

For so many deep-sea fish to be visible like this meant….

Did you… kill… my… daughter?

A damp and gloomy voice interrupted Livia’s thoughts. Simultaneously, a moist and stinging grip seized her nape, threatening to crush it.

“What…! Who, who are you!”

I asked… if you… killed… my daughter… Letis!

Livia struggled hard to break free from him, but strangely, her whole body lost strength the moment her nape was grabbed.

A man resembling a deep-sea fish in human form, with bulging eyes that looked ready to pop out, sharp massive teeth, and gray skin shook the limp Livia while roaring.

‘Letis…?’

A nymph completely forgotten in her memories came to mind. The nymph who had disappeared at some point, who had been hostile to her and fed her broken pottery pieces – her name had been Letis. Then was this man her father?

“What, I don’t, know… Ugh!”

You… will die… by my hands… today…! In the most… painful way… in this world…!

“No, it wasn’t me…! Let go…!”

From the moment she turned Echidna into an enemy, Livia had not drawn the golden dagger Echidna had given her. She felt that continuing to use it would only give Echidna leverage.

It was a world of karma. If she continued borrowing her power like this, she felt uneasy that she would have to pay the price for using that power later.

Unlike before when she had dreamed only of revenge regardless of means, things differed now. Livia envisioned a future with Triton. She wanted happiness in that future. As family with Triton….

Glaring at the black scar drawn on her wrist, Livia gritted her teeth and endured her weakness.

‘I will absolutely never use this. Never….’

Instead of the golden dagger, she drew out Sympho’s tooth that she had used when attacking Echidna before. Fortunately, she had always kept it wrapped around her thigh for emergencies.

“Let go!”

In a moment of carelessness, she swung the tooth at him. As the cold flesh tore from the shark’s tooth, the restraining force weakened.

Livia quickly kicked him away and stepped back. Just as she prepared to flee, an unbelievable figure appeared before her eyes.

“Where do you think you’re going without saying hello to me?”

“Echidna…!”

Echidna, blocking Livia’s path, approached her with a gloomy smile.

“You cunning girl. You live thanks to me, yet you plan to betray me?”

Dozens of black snakes emerged around Echidna and raised their heads toward Livia. The strange man trying to kill her stood behind her, while Echidna pressured her from the front.

Livia, who had been trying to handle everything alone, had no choice but to open her hesitating mouth as a snake lunged at her.

“Mumu!”

With the three-syllable cry, the void split vertically with a crack and hellfire appeared.

The blazing flames soon took the form of a massive beast, and a h*ll hound with three split heads appeared before Livia.

Grrrr!

Flames shot up between its terrifying teeth.

Surprisingly, Mumu seemed to still be growing, appearing even larger than when she had last seen him. And with his growth, the flames spewing from between his teeth had become even more fierce. White and blue flames now mixed with the red and yellow flames that had been there before.

A h*ll… hound…? How… is this….

The lake god stepped back in confusion. Each time the h*ll hound breathed out flames, Regis’s lake grew hotter and hotter.

The flames that should have died without air instead turned blue and grew even hotter.

Grrrr! Rawr!

When Mumu barked in an angry voice, the area around the dog began to boil. The deep-sea fish that had been lighting up the area around the lake fled hurriedly upon feeling the increased temperature, and other hidden fish did the same.

Regis also wanted to flee right away, but his daughter’s enemy stood right there. How could he let that woman who killed his precious offspring live! Regis had no meaning left in life. All joy had been forcibly cut away, leaving him without hope or future.

‘Le…tis….’

With reddened eyes, Regis lunged at Mumu, disregarding his burning body.

The lake god and h*ll hound clashed. The ground sank deeply, and the surrounding rock walls also shook violently and collapsed.

‘Now’s my chance.’

After confirming Mumu had the upper hand, Livia ran toward the direction where the deep-sea fish had fled earlier.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Echidna’s black snake coiled around Livia’s ankle. Livia, who had fallen forward, quickly got up and smashed the snake’s head with Sympho’s tooth. Other approaching snakes met the same fate as she tore apart their heads and bodies without hesitation.

Livia knew well how weak a human she was.

To survive with this weak body, she needed resolution bordering on cruelty. She had to make quick decisions and survive tenaciously, enduring somehow.

At least to become a god’s wife, she couldn’t succumb to mere physical weakness, could she?

A k*lling intent also dwelled in Livia’s eyes. Echidna’s snakes died helplessly at her hands. Perhaps thinking that at this rate only the snakes would die, even Echidna herself rushed at Livia.

“Do you know this? All those you sought revenge against are dead! While they all died, you failed to stab Triton’s heart, so you lost. Not only did you fail to fulfill the contract, but you also violated its terms. So I have the right to take back the breath I gave you. Give it up, your life!”

Echidna began spouting words that could disturb Livia’s composure. She needed to shake that girl’s heart somehow, with anything.

“Don’t be ridiculous! How is it my violation when it became impossible to fulfill the contract through no fault of mine? That’s just force and tyranny. I cannot accept it. I will never give my life to you!”

“Why? You had no attachment to life before, but now you want to live? Why? Why did that happen? Perhaps because you fell in love with Triton?”

“Shut up, Echidna. I won’t answer to the likes of you!”

“Tell me! You fell in love with him, didn’t you? Right? Answer me, quickly! Say that you love him!”

Echidna’s voice, like a scream, echoed creepily in the deep sea.

Livia kept her mouth shut tight and fled sideways while striking away Echidna’s hands that had transformed into snakes trying to strangle her neck.

Dozens of snakes attacked her. Though bitten all over her body, fortunately her flesh blessed by the Styx endured quite well.

“Cunning girl, vile girl! But even if you don’t say it, I know. That your hearts have connected, that Triton has given his heart to you! So he’s going to give you his only tail, isn’t he? What if you die? Wouldn’t he give up even his heart? I’m curious, child. So die. Die and satisfy my curiosity!”

Livia, who had been ignoring Echidna’s vicious voice, suddenly flinched and twisted her face. Something she had never heard before emerged. Livia looked at Echidna with confused eyes.

Tail… What did she mean by giving his tail?

“…What do you mean by tail?”

At that moment, a light of opportunity dwelled in Echidna’s eyes.

“Oh… You didn’t know, girl? That he’s planning to give you his tail?”